Africa Center for Strategic Studies

By Dimittrovova Bohdana, Center for European Policy Studies, 2009 To much acclaim, Morocco enshrined the rights of civil society organizations (CSO) in the 1992 Constitution, seen as the basis of modernization and democracy. Yet restrictions on public discourse on sensitive topics such as Western Sahara, Islam and the authority of the king hamper a healthy debate. State funding for governmental NGO’s (GONGO’s) is sowing distrust within the society towards all CSO’s. The author questions whether the right to accept foreign funds enshrined in the 2002 legislation really represents the change promised by the monarchy.  The author acknowledges that great strides have been made with regards to human rights especially women rights (moudawana), despite its slow implementation. She further argues that advancing women’s right should be done in the context of religion to avoid losing the majority of women who are religious. Nonetheless, the author calls on the EU and the US to be more consistent in their support for Morocco’s human rights agenda. Download the Article: [PDF]

By Sater James, The Middle East Journal, 2009 This article investigates the relationship between electoral politics and the establishment of democratic values as the Moroccan regime seeks new means to sustain and legitimize its basis of power. The author outlines the electoral strategies used by the monarchy to maintain control of the process. This includes ensuring that no hegemonic bloc is created, limiting nationalists’ electoral influence, creating political parties sanctioned by the monarchy and orchestrating the vote count. The author argues that such actions have increased voter resentment and impacted turnout which has dropped to 15% in 2002 from 37% in 2007.The author cautions that such practices may ultimately undermine the reforms and democracy promised by the king. Download the Article: [HTML]